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28 Jan 2012

Faces of Death - Lisa's Review

The title here sounded a bit onimous and the quick google I did on this movie before watching it, made me a bit put off watching it to be honest as it mentioned real animal deaths again. After the cannibal movies with the animal cruelty, which we've already reviewed, I wasnt keen on viewing any more macabre animal scenes, but a challenge is a challenge, so there I saw with the fwd button below my thumb in case I needed it and I pressed play.

One thing quickly became clear in watching this movie (well I say movie, its more of a documentary with a really irritating voice over) and that is that not all of the scenes are real.

This movie examines the so called 'Faces of Death' and is just an excuse to show a bunch of dead people really. If you've ever freqented the site Rotten.com, then you'll have an idea of the gist of some of this movie (and that was the better parts).

Now I've always been a fan of anything which delves into the human body, be that operations, paramedic documentaries, programs on ancient Egypt and mummification, autopsy programs.. I'll watch pretty much anything without being squeamish. The autopsy scenes in this movie are definately real. I've watched enough autopsy programs in my life to recognise that. I see nothing to be frightened of in watching this sort of thing, its interesting. I suppose seeing so many dead bodies may be a bit disturbing to some. The only part I could see which would be upsetting to anyone was the face being peeled back from the skull in a couple of scenes, but hey, I enjoy that kind of sh*t.

Supposed executions are also shown, gas chamber and electric chair. These were both obviously fake. Anyone watching who couldn't see that, is a little naive.

Another scene where a cult apparently eat the innards of a dead man is also laughably fake.

In fact the only footage which seemed to be real in this movie is stock footage taken from other programs or perhaps newsreel footage.

Footage to be seen include a parachutist crashing to the ground during an airshow (very grainy footage from a distance), an unfortunate drowning victim washed up on the beach, a cyclist who has been run over by a lorry (this footage is a bit gruesome in that her head is completely caved in and a paramedic is scooping all kinds of goo off the road into a plastic bag), an execution by sword/machete (not sure if this was real), a suicide jumper hitting the ground, footage from WW2, a stunt gone wrong where the stuntman supposedly dies which was apparently used in the movie anyway (I didn't think this one was real either), a train wreck and perhaps the most disturbing and obviously very real, the mangled remains of body parts of the victims from a plane crash strewn all over a village - on roofs, in the street, in gardens, through windows (one woman was splattered with blood from a corpse flying through her window).

This footage had nothing I hadn't seen before. Like I said, its Rotten.com in moving image rather than still, but with boring bits and crap narration. The plane crash scene was a bit disturbing due to the total carnage and various body parts, just from the human perspective for me of the amount of people who will never return home. I can honestly say however, there was nothing which made me cringe and turn away. Maybe i'm just a sicko?

I did press the fwd a couple of times for animal scenes, which included a pitbull fight, a piranha eating a snake, a cow being bled and killed and abbatoir scenes. I may be a sicko but it doesn't extend to wanting to see animals die.

I think for me, I don't mind dead bodies, its the actual act of the death of anyone I don't want to see. Knowing that person is going to meet their end is something I find hard to deal with.

So to sum up, this movie didn't bother me much but is worth a watch. Its nowhere near as disturbing as say 'Executions' but if you're squeamish, probably best not bother.

Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.